May Update 23/5/08 Chrudim, Czech Republic (4,195 km)
The policeman and the parking ticket!
We crossed the border into Czech from Germany at 9.50am and drove through the small border town of Hřensko looking for somewhere to park. At around 9.55 am we pulled into a car park and not 2 minutes later a police car drove up, a police officer got out and ordered us to get a ticket from the ticket machine!! So within 10 minutes of arriving in Czech we were being ordered about by the police! Something told me he was not going to budge on this one either. I tried to gesture that we were just leaving but he kept pointing to the machine.
There were eight German bikers parked in two bays in front of us - we took up the three bays behind them. The policeman then went over to each of them and pointed to the bike and then to the machine! He waited until we had all walked to the machine before opening the boot of his car and pulled out a wheel clamp. This had all of us in stitches as we thought he was going to try to fit a car clamp onto one of the Mog's wheels! But no, he marched to the only other vehicle in the car park and promptly clamped it. Once he had inspected each ticket he drove off leaving us all rather bemused by the whole event.
Deciding that we would rather be on the road than stay in Hřensko, we headed south to Terezín a tiny fortress town built around 1750 to repel the Prussian army (a function it was never needed for) but is now better known as the horrendous WWII prison and concentration camp.
Around 150,000, predominantly Jewish people, passed through this tiny town before being transported to Auschwitz, however 35,000 died of starvation or disease in the town while being held. We visited the excellent museum in the town centre then walked out to the prison area (Lesser Fortress - built as a Prussian prison) and followed the comprehensive self-guided tour around the barracks. Part of the tour includes walking along a 500 meter tunnel under the external wall banking and it seemed to go on forever! Every time we came to a turn in the tunnel we thought we were at the end but it just went on and on!
Despite the depressing history of the area it was an interesting day and well worth a visit. The construction of the original fortress is so impressive and the whole town is delightful, if a little run down. We decided to stay the night just down the road at Litomĕřice campsite which turned out to be run by a friendly and extremely helpful Czech called Joseph, in fact he was so welcoming we stayed for two nights!
Litomĕřice town was founded in the 13th Century and offers wonderful relief to the horrors of Terezín. Autocamp Slavoj (+420 416 734 481) is fabulously positioned on the Labe river and a short walk into the old town. We wandered about the town and spent a very pleasant evening chatting to Joseph over a few beers.
The next day we had a date to meet up with our good friend Jan and his lovely girlfriend Clara at their home in Chrudim but first we wanted to visit Kutná Hora, with its rather bizarre chapel decoration. The Sedlec Ossuary lies just outside the old town and was a site of religious importance which meant that there were over 40,000 people buried here during the plague - I say 'buried' but they were actually more piled up than buried! When the chapel was sold in 1870 the new owners allowed a local wood carver to decorate the chapel with the bones... just bizarre! Ornate garlands run from corner to corner, a vast 'chandelier' dominated the centre and there is even a family coat of arms!
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The Coat of Arms and Chandelier at Sedlec Ossuary, Czech Republic |
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The town was once very prosperous thanks to a large seam of silver lying under the town. It was big business in medieval times and we visited the silver museum which included spending half an hour wandering around the actual mine shafts with us in miners helmet, overalls and with lanterns. The passages were very narrow and low and, for the second time in Czech, I wondered if they were ever going to end!!
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Medieval silver caves, Kutná Hora, Czech Republic |
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Later that evening, when we met Jan at a bar in Chrudim he said that his friend had told him he had just seen the most amazing big lorry driving though the town and went on to describe the Mog so Jan knew we'd arrived!! A beer or two later we piled Jan, Clara and their two bicycles into the Mog and drove to their brilliant flat in an old mill just out of the town. Jan introduced us to several other people at the mill but our other friend, Milos, was away. We had a great evening with Jan, Clara, Alan and Romana. The next morning after a big breakfast together we drove off towards Poland.
